Angry eyes Thomas! He has opinions! He’s saying things! He’s unhappy with the state of the world! Zooooweee mama!

Too hot for TV! These are the kinds of observations that get you thrown out of… places.

I actually thought about this concept several years ago when I was playing with our dogs. I forget which ones it was. Maybe as far back as Kitt & Sadie. If you offer up a stick to a dog their instinct is sometimes to tear it apart. Also people will pick away at things in idle times in a similar way. Almost like it’s programmed into life at some level to destroy things.

That urge isn’t as strong in me as I’ve observed in others. I don’t really like the sounds of breaking things though so maybe my aversion to other things lessens the urge to destroy. A lot of my abessive actions center around making things rather than breaking them so maybe I’m part of that balance life seeks between construction and destruction. I like sculpting and LEGO, and that sort of thing where you have a new thing at the end. Generally with people it seems like that’s the stronger urge, but I’ve certainly known a few people with an apetite for destruction. I dunno. Whatever. Something to ponder later on I guess.

For now, I will remind you that support links are up top there and wish you a nice couple of days between now and when you return for more of whatever I build next. Until then, the battle is up to you.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory , not to be confused with the Broken Window … let’s say Fallacy.

Of course the latter may be tangentially related as well, given the past track record of the management’s choices. But yes, a somewhat different concept.

Thank you for posting that, I came to the comments to make sure it was here :D

It’s an interesting theory, but it’s just that: a theory. Seeing vandalism on the streets may make me weary of the area due to potential crime, but I wouldn’t be swayed to commit to it as a result.

Would you be as careful to not accidentally damage something though? Like, that garbage can already has a lot of dents and it’s lying in your path, why not just give it a little kick to get it out of the way, who’s gonna notice one more dent? There’s already like ten on this side alone.

“If we cut hours, it will literally destroy the entire town!” Okay, I get what Thomas really means here, it’s just funny.

Reverse gentrification. Flintification. Even if it’s not a natural law, there are definitely examples of it happening. Like when Kmarts were shutting down and you literally couldn’t find anyone on the floor, not even a checker. Early days of self-check.

This page makes me feel a certain way.

Yep, Flint is a prime example. Detroit as well.

And too many small rural towns to mention.

Take him to Detroit.

Oof, K-Mart. I remember the last days of K-Mart in some places. It was like a REQUIREMENT that they be dingy and unpleasant. Rust stains on the floor, lighting that half-worked…you could tell it was a brand in decline.

And merch scattered around on the floor with nobody bothering to pick up.

And once that kind of decline begins it’s nearly impossible to pull out of the death spiral. As sales and profits decline, management starts cutting corners. As the shopping experience gets worse, fewer people want to shop there. Lather, rinse and repeat until bankruptcy.

And if you bought more than one item, somebody’d have to do a price check.

Reminds me of my worst ever checkout experience. I had a whole cartload of stuff. The guy behind me had one item, a wallet. So I decide I’ll be nice and let him go ahead of me. Multiple rounds of price checks and manager calls ensued. One the guy finally managed to buy his wallet, I swear it took less time for the cashier to ring up my entire cartload than it did to pay for that stupid wallet. Like they say, no good deed…

Sears went that way too. When I was living in Oakland, there was a Sears just a few blocks away from where I worked. It wasn’t quite as bad as what you describe for K-mart, but the outside of the store started to look dingier, there weren’t as many employees inside as there had been… It got to the point where you had to actively search for a cashier when you wanted to buy something. So they were probably losing a lot to shoplifting, too.

Oh man been reading too much Manga lately, thought I was having a stroke and then it dawned on me Durp…

And just like that, Thomas has identified why HOAs exist. -_-

“Some people just want to watch the world burn…”

…& then there’s Thomas.

Is he the one we NEED…?
…or the one we DESERVE?

I posted just before 5pm on the 22nd…
…so why is it listed as being posted on the 23rd???

I think the server clock is set to UTC, which is five hours ahead if you’re in the US eastern time zone. That’s how you’re able to post from the future.

Okay, just double-checked my math and that’s not quite right. Whatever time zone the server is set to, it’s seven hours ahead of EDT.

Make that nine hours, I can’t math today. In my defense, I rarely need to add or subtract modulo 24.

The server time doesn’t match your time.

I see it here at my work. Our store is big (but not particularly huge), but the store manager is pushing water uphill against her higher ups to keep the place staffed sufficiently to cover it all, more or less because ours is “out of the way”.

We have had some high-value thefts (> $500) due to a combination of low staff levels and diversionary tactics from accomplices. Even one more set of eyes would help us but, as appears to be standard procedure from a head office standpoint “that’s your problem, not ours”.

So, they expect you to solve the problem, but not spend money on it. That means volunteers, under one name or another. Maybe ask a security company for interns?

Can’t agree more. The small city I live in has an area in the early decline of that. Sure there are plenty of businesses still up and running, but a few places like Village Inn decided they didn’t want to pay the cost to refurbish the building they were in and decided on a new location across town. They left the old location abandoned and exactly this happened. Then they had to board up the windows and doors to keep people out. Suddenly a couple of other places went under or moved similarly and now most are not even humoring the idea of moving into that area because it’s starting to look run down despite having some fairly good open plots available while also being central to residential districts and a high school.

2676 Fall To Ruin.

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